Cowboy Bebop: The Movie

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

The popular animé series Cowboy Bebop gets its own feature-length film with the aptly named Cowboy Bebop: The Movie. Set in the late 21st century, it jumps into the series' story line just prior to its conclusion, with the bounty hunting crew of the interstellar craft Bebop chasing a hacker aboard a tanker into a major city on Mars. As crew member Faye Valentine closes in on the tanker, she witnesses its catastrophic explosion, which soon appears to be a viral terrorist attack as the death toll continues to mount in the days following. Furthermore, Faye caught a glimpse of the person responsible for the blast and is thus the only surviving witness of the crime. After the government puts out a large bounty for the perpetrator's capture, the Bebop gang -- slacker Spike Spiegel, former policeman Jet Black, and hacker girl genius Edward -- begin their own hunt for the mass murderer, who is eventually revealed to be one Vincent Volaju. Vincent, it turns out, was the lone survivor of a governmental medical test and now seeks revenge by unleashing the same microscopic robotic virus used in the tanker explosion on the unsuspecting city. The Bebop crew must scramble to prevent Vincent from carrying out his plan, as well as try to locate an anti-virus to counterattack the effects of Vincent's virus. Released in both dubbed and subtitled cuts in the United States in 2003, Cowboy Bebop - The Movie premiered in Japan in 2001. ~ Ryan Shriver, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Theatre Wide Screen)
• Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Subtitle: French, English
• Features:
  • • cc "The Making of Cowboy Bebop": 6 behind-the-scenes featurettes
    • Music videos for "Ask DNA" and "Gotta Knock a Little Harder"
    • Conceptual art galleries
    • Storyboard comparisons
    • In-depth character profiles
    • Widescreen
    • Digitally mastered audio & anamorphic video
    • Original Japanese theatrical version and English 5.1 (Dolby Digital), French
    • English and French subtitles
    • Theatrical trailers
    • Animated menus

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Director:

  Shinichiro Watanabe, Yoshiyuki Takei

• Producer:

  Haruyo Kanesaku, Masahiko Minami, Minoru Takanashi, Masuo Ueda

• Screenwriter:

  Keiko Nobumoto

• Screen Story:

  Hajime Yatate

• Screenwriter:

  Marc Handler

• Cinematographer:

  Yoichi Ogami

• Songwriter:

  Yoko Kanno

• Featured Music:

  Seatbelts

• Editor:

  Shuichi Kakesu

• Art Director:

  Atsushi Morikawa

• Executive Producer:

  Takayuki Yoshii, Ryohei Tsunoda

• Set Designer:

  Shiho Takeuchi

• Animation Director:

  Toshihiro Kawamoto

• Character Design:

  Toshihiro Kawamoto

• Mechanical Design:

  Kimitoshi Yamane

• Sound Director:

  Katsuyoshi Kobayashi

REVIEW:

• Taking its narrative place somewhere toward the end of the animé series, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie does read just like a longer version of an episode. Even so, its one of the smartest, entertaining, and visually dynamic animé series to make it to the big screen. The highly detailed imagery is one of the film's strongest points, capable of being appreciated by novices as well as seasoned fans of the show. The Mars future world is rendered shockingly realistic with advertising, ethnic ghettos, and drive-in theaters. All the graffiti and grime of contemporary urban settings is intrinsically mixed with technological advancements and interstellar space travel. The formulaic story takes cues from cinematic tough-guy history and is all underscored with a bittersweet romantic longing and frequent bursts of comedy. All these changes in tone could appear clumsy, but the reserved cool and cynical remarks of main character Spike Spiegel keep it within the realm of a good action comedy. That the many chase sequences and fight scenes in the third act are fueled by bop and free jazz styles also helps maintain the organic flow of things. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie does have a fairly standard science-fiction story with an insane bad guy, pseudoscientific rambling, and needless violence, but it's still a complex dramatic movie that humanizes the animé genre as it delivers the thrills. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi